Why We Cannot Afford to Focus on Bad Things

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Here’s another habit we all seem to have inherited: focusing on bad things and trying to prevent from happening. Like other inherited habits, this one costs us: we waste too much time, energy, and effort on it.

First, we anticipate a bad thing happening (e.g. a lost sale, a loss of prestige, position, or money, a rejection, a tough conversation, a criticism). We fret about what this would mean and what else would go wrong if this bad thing happened. Then we think–in tangents and circles–of ways to make the world (and others) conform so that we don’t have to experience this bad thing. We work hard at this because we don’t even want to feel the fear of these things–they feel very bad–let alone experience the things themselves.

But we cannot control the world. Not with that low-buzz thinking.

We can, though, control our reactions. When we anticipate something bad–instead of focusing on the bad and the fear–we can choose to raise our buzz, to feel good.

Then, unusually quickly and without all that wasted energy, workable solutions will appear.

 

In your corner,

Mike

 

Today’s photo credit: e³°°° via photopin cc

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